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Big Brother
Big Brother was a competitor robot that debuted in Series 3 of Robot Wars. The first robot from Team Big Brother, it initially lost its Heat Final to Ultor on a judges' decision, but progressed to the Semi-Finals after the Ultor team offered Big Brother their place in response to the decision. Big Brother was subsequently defeated in the first round of its Semi-Final after getting flipped onto its back by Mace 2. The robot was named after the team captain, Joe Watts, who is a big brother to his little sisters. The name also makes reference to the antagonist of the George Orwell novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Design Big Brother was a conventional wedge-shape robot armed with a 'morning star' flailing mace weapon which could attack robots from in front or behind, although Big Brother usually utilised its wedge shape to overturn its opponents. The design also featured sharpened spikes at the back. It was armoured in mild steel and ran on tractor wheels. The robot was very fast, but critically lacked a self-righting mechanism to aid it when overturned. Robot History Series 3 Big Brother defeated Grim Reaper on a judges' decision in its first round. Grim Reaper had a faster start in Big Brother's first battle, but the more powerful Big Brother pushed it back into Sgt. Bash. After spinning around each other for a while, Big Brother got underneath Grim Reaper and tried to direct it towards the pit, nearly falling in itself. Both robots escaped, and Grim Reaper came in on another charge, crashing over the top of Big Brother. After lining up another charge, Grim Reaper attacked, but the force of the impact meant its wheel fell off; however, Big Brother was also in trouble, only able to move in circles before stopping altogether. Sir Killalot then ran over Big Brother, and overturned Grim Reaper. The fight had to be decided by the judges, and Big Brother was awarded the victory on damage and aggression. This was notably the only time Team Big Brother ever won a judges' decision in UK Robot Wars. In the second round, Big Brother faced Sir Chromalot. The two robots charged at each other from the start, and bounced off each other. The battle was tentative for a while after this, Sir Chromalot pushed Big Brother into Shunt, but Big Brother retaliated, turning over Sir Chromalot after a few seconds of sheepish pushing. Shunt and Dead Metal attacked the 'Class Act', whilst Big Brother spun around, however, Big Brother was pressured by Shunt and Dead Metal. To earn a place in the series semi-finals, Big Brother fought the axe of Ultor. The battle began strongly for Big Brother, who pushed against Ultor, and dodged the axe blow. For the first time in the heat, Big Brother's 'morning star' weapon was seen in action, although it got wedged on the axe of Ultor, who used this to drag Big Brother very nearly up and over. Big Brother again pushed Ultor around the arena, however the flail fell off whilst it was doing so. Big Brother got underneath Ultor again, lifting it up onto its side, but failing to overturn it. Ultor meanwhile, was in trouble from the arena spikes, which caused trouble for other robots. The battle ended with Big Brother on another charge against Ultor, but the damage to Big Brother was a deciding factor in the resulting judges' decision. The Judges ruled in favour of Ultor, much to Joe Watts' disappointment. However, the Ultor team were not able to attend filming for the Semi-Finals due to work commitments; claiming that the decision was wrong, they handed the victory to Big Brother instead.Ian Watts AMA on Reddit The reinstated Big Brother fought Mace 2 in the first round of the series semi-finals. Big Brother was immediately under pressure from Mace 2, lifting Big Brother up, but it escaped. After pushing against Mace 2, Big Brother was lifted up again, but again it bounced down and survived. Big Brother's turns to attack came soon, however, and it pushed Mace 2 towards the top of the arena, and then back again. However, the third flip from Mace 2 was sufficient to flip Big Brother onto its back. The House Robots then came in, and Big Brother was scratched by the saw of Dead Metal. Results |} Wins/Losses *Wins: 2 *Losses: 2 NOTE: Although Big Brother suffered a loss to Ultor, the judges' decision was later conceded to Big Brother by Ultor's team Series Record Outside Robot Wars After Series 3, Big Brother made a brief appearance at the 2000 Brighton Model World event. There, it competed in a Tug of War competition, and defeated all of the other competitors taking part, including Mortis. According to Ian Watts, he still owns Big Brother and it is in his workshop.Ian Watts AMA on Reddit Trivia Big brother minus back armour.jpg|Big Brother being worked on Big brother stats.png|Big Brother's statistics board with Ian Watts being listed as the team captain rather than Joe Watts BBandBBonBB.jpg|Big Brother's cameo on Battlebots *Big Brother had an adjustable ground clearance. *Although everyone, including Joe Watts' team T-Shirt, referenced Joe as the team captain, dad Ian Watts was listed as the captain on the robot's statistic board. *After its battle with Grim Reaper, Joe Watts said he had wanted the robot's design to be 'like Sonic' with a head with spikes that could pop out. Presumably, this design was abandoned for being too complicated. *Big Brother was the first robot to start the Sir Chromalot trend, defeating it in Round 2 of Heat D, and going on to win the heat. *While Big Brother did not appear after Series 3, the team would continue to use the name and the mace insignia on their uniforms while competing with Bigger Brother. *During Big Brother's heat final, Jonathan Pearce said "I wonder if Big Brother has an even bigger brother to come back", thus foreshadowing the name of its successor. *Big Brother made a cameo during Season 2 of Battlebots. During a feature on the UK teams, Team Big Brother demonstrated their entry Bigger Brother by flipping their old robot Big Brother. Joe Watts was also seen holding Big Brother's maceBattlebots Season 2, Episode 1. *Weber, the Russian representative in Series 10, was originally named Большой Брат, which translates to Big Brother. References Category:UK Series competitors Category:UK Semi-Finalists Category:Robots from East Sussex Category:Robots with Unique weapons Category:Robots with Spears Category:Robots with an equal amount of Wins and Losses Category:Reinstated Robots Category:Robots which debuted in Series 3 Category:Robots which only fought in Series 3 Category:Robots with cameo appearances in Series 4 Category:Robots with cameo appearances in Series 6 Category:Robots with cameo appearances in Dutch Robot Wars: Series 2 Category:Robots with cameo appearances in German Robot Wars Category:Robots from Schools or Universities